MoonShadows
The Jam Man
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Thanks for that quick lesson.
Plants are like the water...sooner you added them the sooner everything settles down. I don't know what issue there would be fertilizing them as long as just fertilizer is used. I add a lot of fertilizer to plants like Canna and most plants. Most marginal type plants don't do very well without added fertilizer.
In addition to what MitchM said there's at least one more interaction to note and that's algae. It doesn't really matter, but just for fun, algae will consume ammonia directly bypassing the nitrite/nitrogen deal. A pond doesn't need to be visibly green, there can be a lot of algae before visible. Cycling a water garden is almost never needed, the light fish load in these is handled fine. It's something done in high fish load systems. Bottom line is testing ammonia at the start tells you what's going on. It doesn't really matter in a water garden whether it's algae or bacteria consuming ammonia, but in virtually all water gardens algae is doing the heavy lifting.
Rain water normally is 0 KH so the water isn't buffered at all. That leads to PH being very unstable and readings being kind of meaningless. If you measure KH and add (if needed) to keep KH up you don't even have to test PH. Rain water coming down is generally very low, like in the low 5's in west US and under down to like 4.3 in the NE US. In thunderstorms it can get down to low 2's. This can have an effect in low/no buffered ponds. And of course the resulting PH from increasing KH can effect the ratio of toxic and non-toxic ammonia. Also, chemicals to dechlorinate water can result in meaningless ammonia test readings for most common test kits.
Bacteria in a bottle is very popular with stores and people. The better the company marketing the happier the people. It's a great placebo and helps many people lower their stress level. However, if you're part of the shrinking world of people interested in data you will find no hard evidence bacteria in a bottle has any effect other than add a bit of waste to the water. If you prefer a common sense approach you can add some ammonia to water, in a bucket or whatever, and be amazed how fast bacteria set up shop and consume it all. Ammonia converting bacteria is everywhere. As for exotic bacteria some companies elude to, well, back to placebo. For sure many people who pay $20-60 for a bottle of stuff do claim to "see" benefits. Most of these products seem to do no harm so if you feel the need, I'd say do ahead. It's just money.
If you have the time, for most water gardens, it's hard to beat filling your pond with water and just waiting a week or more to add fish. You get stable water pretty fast. But a testing ammonia and KH is good insurance.
LOL...I just decide not to use beneficial bacteria, and you post that link! Oh well, I have time to make up my mind...again!![]()
The point was there is no need to inoculate the algae, it's there already (just like the bacteria). That's why algae blooms are so common in new ponds, even ones where no one has added ammonia or algae.I expect that if you tried to inoculate a new pond with algae (after you added ammonia), you would have algae blooms, PH swings and delayed establishment of a proper nitrifying bacteria population.
I see algae as a safety valve for the aquatic environment, which consumes extra nutrients that are available because of an overloaded biofilter.
As I think Waterbug already mentioned, adding the stuff likely won't hurt anything, but as far as education and experimentation I think aquariums are best suited for that sort of experimentation. Using two equal sized, side by side aquariums with all things being the exactly the same, only one you add some bottled bacteria product and some ammonia and one you just add the ammonia, then you'd need to diligently measure ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels for about a month or two to really see what's going on.Studies have shown that adding viable nitrifying bacteria will speed up completion of the nitrification cycle.
As hobbyists, I don't see the need, but as a curiosity there's nothing wrong with giving it a try. I would probably try some out just for the education aspect.
I can see where a business could find it beneficial to inoculate with viable bacteria. The quicker you get a pond up and running the sooner the job is completed.
At night, algae will consume oxygen.
I agree with ensuring as much oxygenation as possible is a good thing.
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